HTS 3081: Technology and the
Environment in the 20th Century
Dr. Jenny Leigh Smith
jenny.smith@hts.gatech.edu
404-894-1819
Tues. & Thurs. Architecture East 107
9:35-10:55
Office Hours: by Appt. and Tues. & Thurs,
11-12
G20 Old Civil Engineering
This class provides students with an overview of how technology has altered the
environment over the course of the 20th Century. We pay special attention to the
dilemmas posed by industrialization, pollution, overcrowding, and the biotech
revolution. Students will read books and articles on a variety of topics. Students will go
on a field trip to learn more about environmental conservation in the Greater Atlanta
region, and students will research and write an 8-10 page final paper for this class.
Learning Outcomes: Students will…
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Gain an understanding of topics in the history of technology and the environment
including pollution, water resources, environmental justice, development and the
environment and biotechnology.
Improve their knowledge about current issues around environmental sustainability,
pollution and industrialization
Understand, synthesize, and analyze the major themes and debates in the history of
technology and the environment during the 20th and 21st Centuries.
Assessment: Students are expected to:
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Attend every class: Also, arrive on time. (10 % of final grade)
Participate: Answer the Question of the Day at least 5 times during the semester. (10 % of
final grade)
Read: Students are expected to read 100-125 pages per week for this class. Quizzes will assess
reading comprehension. Six quizzes, worth 4 points each, you may drop your lowest score
(20 % of final grade)
Complete homework: Students will be asked to complete 5 homework assignments. (10 %
of final grade)
Write a book review: A 450-500 word book review is due during week 10. (10 % of final
grade)
Go on a field trip : Around week 9 we will make a class field trip to a local institutions to
learn about their conservation efforts. Students unable to attend the field trip can complete
an (extensive, time consuming) alternate assignment. (20 % of final grade)
Research and write a final paper: A 2000-2500 word paper (8-10 pages) is due on the day
you are scheduled to take your final exam for this class (December 9). (20 % of final grade)
Books:
Richard White, The Organic Machine
Keith Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache
Mary Mycio, The Wormwood Forest
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Ramachandra Guha, Environmentalism: a Global History
UNIT ONE: Water & Power
Week One August 19 & 21 : Course Introduction,
Hand out syllabus, Lecture on Water and Power
Read The Organic Machine pp. 3-59, Environmentalism,
a Global History Ch 1 & 2
Week Two: August 26 & 28: Lecture on dams in other places, and water rights in arid places, Read
The Organic Machine, pp. 60-114, Environmentalism Ch. 3, Donald
Worster, "The Flow of Empire: Comparing Water Control in the
United States and China,” RCC Perspectives 2011, no 5 (available online in the resources section)
Week Three: Sept. 2 & 4: Lecture on nuclear waste, Quiz on unit readings
(N.B. I will not be here on September 4. You do not need to attend class, but you need to watch the movie
Chinatown by Tuesday, Sept. 9 )
UNIT TWO: Landscape & Memory
Week Four: Sept. 9 & 11: Lecture on Landscape
and Memory, Land Use by Pastoralists, Farmers and
Hunters
Read Wisdom Sits in Places, Ch 1 & 2
Homework #1 (Sept. 9, in class) Chinatown quiz
Homework #2 (Sept. 11) Read: Come prepared to share
the history of a place-name
Week Five: September 16 & 18: Lecture on Athabaskan
Cultural Continuities, How to read an industrial
Landscape
Read Wisdom Sits in Places, Ch 3 & 4
UNIT THREE: A Century of Oil
Week Six: September 23 & 25: Quiz on Wisdom Sits in Places,
Lecture on Energy Regimes, Lecture on Commons and Privatization
Readings: Something New Under the Sun: Ch. 10, 296-324 , Harding, The Tragedy of the Commons
“The Oil We Eat,” and “Letting the Grandchildren Do it” (available on T-square)
Week Seven: September 30 & October 2: Lecture on 21st Century Oil Regimes and the Future of
Oil , Oil in Nigeria and in other developing countries
Homework #3: watch either Crude (2009) or Sweet Crude (2010)
Week Eight: October 7 & 9:, Go over homework, Quiz on the readings, Lecture on offshore oil,
pipelines, and environmental debates
UNIT FOUR: Conservation, Extinction & De-Extinction
Week 9: October 14 & 16: ***Field Trip Week*** The History of Conservation: Hunters & Treehuggers, field trip discussion and wrap-up
Readings: Silent Spring Ch. 1-9 & 17
Week 10: October 21 & 23: Conservation in Africa, wildlife
documentaries of Jacques Cousteau and Marty Stouffer
Book Review is Due October 23
Readings: The Myth of Wild Africa (available on T-square)
Week 11: October 28 & 30: recent extinctions and planned
resurrections
Readings: online and film: Jacques Cousteau’s Mammals of the Deep
UNIT FIVE: Sacrificial Landscapes
Week 12: November 4 & 6: quiz on readings, Lecture on
Major industrial accidents of the past 100 years
Reading: Wormwood Forest Ch. 1-3
Homework Assignment #4: understand radiation exposure
(N.B.: I will be out of town on November 6)
Week 13: November 11-13: Lecture on BPA and
Regulation of toxicity, risk and uncertainty ,
Lecture on Chernobyl
Readings: Wormwood Forest Ch. 4-6
Week 14: November 18 & 20: Pollution and native
territories in North America and elsewhere, quiz on
readings, aftereffects of nuclear pollution,
Readings: Wormwood Forest Ch. 7-8
UNIT SIX : Feeding the World
Week 15: November 25: Quiz on reading, the environmental history of famine in the 20th
Century
Readings: "The Political Ecology of Famine" in Mike Davis, Late Victorian
Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World pp. 277-377, and Michael
Watts “Entitlements or Empowerment? Famine and Starvation in
Africa.” Review of African Political Economy no. 51 (July 1, 1991): 9–26. (available on T-square)
Homework Assignment #5 Assess your own food security: pick 10 foods in your pantry to
analyze
Week 16: December 2 & 4: Go over homework, Lecture on the history of GMOs, The Green
Revolution and other biotech miscalculations,
Readings: John McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, “Eat or Be Eaten” Ch. 7, Michael Pollan
“Power Steer” NY Times March, 2002 (available on T-square)